European stocks rose on Friday, catching the tail of Wall Street’s overnight rally, as chip makers boosted markets and there were signs from Washington that politicians are closing in on a deal on the US debt ceiling.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 rose 0.5 percent, France’s Cac 40 rose 0.6 percent, and London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.7 percent at the open.
The moves come a day after Nvidia announced that its quarterly profit far exceeded analysts’ expectations, buoyed by higher demand for chips used in generative artificial intelligence systems.
Nvidia shares jumped 24 percent on the day, putting the company on its way to becoming the first chip maker to be valued at more than $1 trillion. The recovery spilled over into other AI-related stocks, helping the high-tech Nasdaq Composite finish up 1.7 percent. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 0.9 percent.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden indicated late Thursday that White House officials were “making progress” in negotiations over the US debt ceiling, as a looming deadline over an unprecedented government default frayed nerves. investors.
Contracts tracking the benchmark S&P 500 on Wall Street and those tracking the high-tech Nasdaq 100 were flat ahead of the New York open.
said Mike Zygmunt, head of research and trading at Harvest Volatility.
Earlier in the week, credit ratings agency Fitch warned that it may downgrade the country’s triple-A rating due to its “brinksmanship” of exceeding the US debt limit.
The yield on Treasury notes due in a month — close to the date when the US government could run out of money — was at 5.8 percent on Friday, after falling from a high of 6.01 percent earlier in the week.
The yield on policy-sensitive two-year Treasury bills rose 0.02 percentage point to 4.52 percent. The yield on the benchmark 10-year note was steady at 3.81 percent. Bond yields rise as prices fall.
The Turkish lira fell to 20 against the US dollar for the first time, in the latest sign of mounting pressure on the country’s economy ahead of Sunday’s runoff elections. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has led Turkey for two decades, is expected to win the second round of voting this weekend.
Oil prices rose after conflicting messages from OPEC+ member countries regarding future production of the fuel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose 0.24 percent to $76.44 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate, the American equivalent, rose 0.4 percent to $72.2.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian Deputy Prime Minister had said that further production cuts were unlikely at the OPEC+ meeting next month.
Asian stocks were mixed, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng down 1.9 percent while China’s CSI was flat.
